Wellington Mk.X

Italeri, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Italeri's 1/72 scale Wellington Mk.X will be available online from Squadron.com
 

With a production run of more than 3,800, the Wellington Mk.X was the most numerous variant of this most numerous WWII British bomber. The main difference between the Mk.X and the Mk.III was the installation of the more powerful Bristol Hercules VI or XVI engine. A large intake was fitted to the top of each engine cowling, and the familiar "hedgehog" exhaust was often fitted.

IPMS Stockholm has a walkaround of a preserved Wellington Mk.X on their website, which will be useful reference for modellers.

The latest in the line of co-operative projects with Czech model manufacturer MPM is Italeri's new 1/72 scale Wellington Mk.X. This kit shares a number of parts of the MPM Wellington Mk.IC. Revised and new parts include the engines and cowlings, intake scoops, propellers, hedgehog exhausts, revised turret parts, horizontal stabilisers and inserts to blank off the long fuselage windows. The fuselage of the Italeri kit is also revised to include the rear fuselage windows. Despite the strong family resemblance to its predecessor, we are presented with a substantially different kit.

Italeri's Wellington Mk.X comprises around 138 parts (including 64 marked not for use) in medium grey coloured, long run injection moulded styrene, an additional 19 injection moulded clear parts and two parts in cream coloured resin. All the parts feature small sprue attachment points and are crisply moulded. There are no sink marks present on visible surfaces, and only about ten ejector pin marks on the inside of each fuselage half. This is not a criticism, as these marks are a necessary evil of the injection moulding process.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The Wellington featured a unique "geodetic" cross-hatched framework. On the real aircraft, the diamond grid of the structure showed through fabric surfaces. In my opinion, the Italeri kit captures this geodetic pattern very well with softly raised framework on the wings and tailplanes. The fuselage exterior is finished in a combination of fabric texture and finely raised ribs. The interior of the fuselage is detailed with a cross-hatch geodetic pattern. The bomb bay panels are crisply recessed. The combined effect of these surface features looks quite authentic to my eye.

The smaller details have not been ignored either. The pilot's seat, floor and rear bulkhead are nicely detailed. The instrument panel is presented "a la Tamiya" with recessed blank dials. I like this option, as it offers to opportunity to use individual decal instruments.

Transparent parts are quite clear and relatively free of distortion. Each turret comprises twelve parts, including four clear parts that must be glued together. Extreme care will be required to avoid messing up these clear parts with excess glue. I will be dipping the parts in Future and using tiny spots of super glue to secure my clear turret pieces.

Other details, including the undercarriage bays, gear legs and engines, are also very nice. The gear bays are split vertically, and have detail moulded onto their sidewalls. Superdetailers may choose to add more wiring detail to the engines, but it is not entirely necessary in this scale.

The inclusion of two delicately detailed resin hedgehog exhausts is a nice bonus.

Kit engineering is solid. The wings and tailplanes are secured with the assistance of slots and tabs. The larger parts, including the fuselage halves, feature locating pins too. The only really tricky aspect will be the clean installation of the insert that blanks off the long fuselage windows. Some considerable care will be required to blend this part perfectly.

Six marking options are offered, including two from 304 Sqn in expedient Coastal Command schemes of faded Dark Earth and Dark Green with White lower surfaces and fuselage sides. The other four are conventional Bomber Command colours of Dark Earth, Dark Green and Night Black. Decals are nicely printed with a flat texture and minimal carrier film. Registration on my decals was perfect.



 

Italeri's 1/72 scale Wellington is another example of the continuous improvement in quality on the part of Czech model manufacturers, and of the emerging partnerships between model companies in Eastern and Western Europe.

With its attractive surface texture, logical parts breakdown, narrow sprue connectors, injection-moulded clear parts and locating pins on larger parts, there is little left to define this Wellington as "limited run". The kit should be within the capabilities of the average modeller, with no special skills required. However, any bomber kit will inevitably present some construction challenges, so careful preparation and continuous test fitting will be the order of the day.

Italeri's new 1/72 scale Wellington Mk.X will be welcomed by all fans of WWII British bombers - newcomers to the hobby and superdetailing experts alike.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to Italeri for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2007 by Brett Green
Page Created 19 March, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page